Tethered caps – caps which remain attached to the containers during the product’s intended use stage including opening and closing - will become part of our day-to-day life in Europe in 2024. This is due to the EU Directive 2019/904 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment.
The directive requires the lids and caps of single use plastic (SUP) bottles and composite packaging with a capacity of up to three litres to remain tethered to the containers for as long as they are used.
How to changeover to tethered
Don’t worry: AROL is already working with packaging manufactures, bottling lines manufactures to minimize the impact of the changes. In most equipment a simple chuck cones replacement will be enough to run these new caps. If you are taking this opportunity to rethink to your packaging design, AROL is at your disposal to study the best upgrade for you (equipment upgrades, format changeover, etc..).
AROL alongside the bottlers: Coca-Cola experience
In the last months AROL has been cooperating with Coca-Cola, together with several closures manufacturers in the validation process of the new GME 30.40 CSD (carbonated soft drinks) PET finish, both at laboratory level (c/o AROL premises) and at industrial level (c/o CCEP production line in Barcelona plant Spain). GME 30.40 (CETIE code) PET finish is the first international standard specifically developed for tethered closures to be compliant with SUP EU Directive. The industrial trial in CCEP Barcelona plant involved the production of more 6 million sellable bottles 500 ml size closed with new 26/22 CSD tethered closures.
Talk to AROL
Since 2019, AROL tethered focus group is cooperating within CETIE SUP Working Group (composed by mains EU bottlers, bottling lines-packaging-closures manufactures) in the development and validation of tethered solutions.
We know that this change is raising many questions.
AROL is ready to study and minimize the impact of this change on your bottling line, thanks to the experience of thousands of caps sorters and capping equipment installed in Europe and all over the world.